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ORATION 

OP 

ELOISr. O. p. MORTOI^, 

OF 

MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE, 

AND 

DEDICATION ODE, 

FOR THE NATIONAL CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURf!, .lULY 1, 1869, BY 

BAYARD Taylor, 



TOGETHER WITH THE OTHER EXERCISES AT THE DEDICATION 

OF THE MONUMENT^IN THE SOLDIERS' NATIONAL 

CEMETERY AT '&ETTYSBURG, JULY 1, 1869. 



PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION. 



TER, NORTH-EAST COR. OF WASHIJ 
1870. 

^ ^ 



J. K. WlBLE, PRINTER, NORTH-KAST COR. OF WASHINGTON A- R. R. STi. 

1870. 



I 



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-^0/ol.j^rS ^r-u^^-^'^ cJ^.^'>^.^-^.JL.^r^ y 
ORATION 



OF 



HOIST. O. I>. MORTOISr, 

7 



OF 



MAJOR GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE, 




AND 



FOE3S/1: 



OF 



BAYARD TAYLOR, 

7 

TOGETHER WITH THE OTHER* EXERCISES AT THE DEDICA- 
TION OF THE MONUMENT IN THE SOLDIERS' NATIONAL 
CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURG, JULY IST, 1869. 



^ ' PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION. 



J, S, WIBLE, PRINTER, NORTH-EAST COR. OF WASHINGTON k R. R. ST8, 

1870. 




6^75 



c 



r 



PRAYER 



BY 



BEV. HENRY WARD BEECHER. 



ord God of our fathers, we thank Thee that 
Thou hast been God of this land ; that Thou 
hast inspired our citizens to frame wise laws 
and lay the foundation of intelligence and of virtue 
and of piety. We thank Thee that Thou hast or- 
dained among us institutions for the benefit of all, 
and in all the history of their formation, and amidst 
all the struggles through which they have passed, 
Thou hast been on the side of liberty and knowl- 
edge, and hast befriended the poor and needy. 
We thank Thee, O Lord our God, that when times 
of struggle came on ; when evil rushed in upon us 
like a flood. Thou didst at last raise up opposition, 
and didst call from all places those that should as- 
sert again the everlasting truths of human right and 
human liberty. And when aggression broke forth 
into battle, Thou, O Lord God of our fathers, didst 



PRAVER. 



call forth from all our fields, from towns, and from 
cities, multitudes innumerable, who stood heroically 
to defend this nation and maintain its integrity un- 
impaired, and here, within this eminence, where 
Thou didst lead Thy people unto victory, we are 
gathered again to renew associations and derive in- 
struction, and hand down to our posterity lessons of 
patriotism and heroic devotion which here were 
given. Grant, we beseech of Thee, Thy blessing to 
rest upon all who are gathered here to-day. O Lord, 
we cannot ask Thy blessing upon those that rest in 
sleep in death round about us, whom Thou hast 
blessed, for we humbly trust in Jesus Christ — in the 
immortality of another and better land. But, O 
Lord, remember that all our hearts yet bleed for 
them. Remember those whose home is poorer 
since they died. May they be cheered in recollect- 
ing that their whole land is richer. O Lord, bless 
those fathers whose sons lie buried here, and moth- 
ers into whose hearts the sword entered more deep- 
ly than into theirs who were slain thereby. Re- 
member the orphan children of those that are 
silent here ; and we beseech of Thee that wherever 
they are, and under whatsoever circumstances sur- 
rounded, they may feel not only the sympathy and 
good-will of their fellow-citizens, but, in an eminent 
degree, may Thy providence smile upon them. 
May the soldiers' children never prove unworthy 



PRAYER. 



of their fathers' name ; may they srow up into true 
heroism and love of their native land, and, as did 
their fathers, let them be willing to shed their blood, 
to lay down their lives, for the sake of their coun- 
try. Let Thy blessing-, O Lord, rest upon Thy 
servant who commanded here in time of great trial, 
and whose life mercifully has been spared through 
intervening years since, to be here again under 
circumstances so different. Long may his life be 
spared, and those of his household, and may Thy 
blessing make him instrumental for right; and for 
the good of the whole land, may it come back in 
measure upon him and his! Remember all who 
were here associated with him in command, not 
only so many as are now present, but those who 
are detained from this ground. Wherever any are, 
may the blessings of Almighty God rest upon them 
and theirs, and their families. Remember, O Lord, 
the soldiers who fought here and everywhere ; we 
pray for them and theirs, that God's blessing may 
attend them to the end of life ; save them from 
snares and temptations mightier than their virtue, 
and grant that in all their manifest and noble en- 
deavors, they may achieve yet more than is con- 
tained on the record of their past. We beseech 
Thee, Lord God, to grant Thy blessing upon this 
whole nation ; be pleased to unite together the 
hearts of this once divided but now united people ; 



6 PRAYER. 

unite their hearts together, and with these new 
foundations of hberty, universal intelhgence, and 
virtue and piety, may this Union grow stronger than 
it was or could have been. And though we have 
been shaken with a mighty shaking; though with 
the ploughshare of war Thou hast passed through 
our fields, grant that hereafter the harvest may be 
more abundant than it could have been without this 
Thy culture. We beseech Thee, O God, to pour 
Thy blessing upon the President of the United 
States, and all that are associated with him in coun- 
cil and administration. May their lives and health 
be precious in Thy sight ; may discretion be given 
them from on high ; may a prosperous issue be 
given to all work of their hands undertaken in be- 
half of this land. Bless, O Lord, the army and 
navy of the United States ; in all their labors and 
eflbrts may they still uphold the banner of the coun- 
try ; not in a spirit of pride or of wanton aggression, 
but may they see in our flag" justice, order, and 
liberty for all, prosperity with virtue, until around 
and around the world, as every wind shall bear its 
folds, men may be told what liberty and true piety 
does for a nation. Strentrthen the weak with 
strength against the strong. Counsel with Thy 
counsel against the oppressor, although the earth 
overturn and overturn until the right is established. 
Grant Thy blessing to rest upon all that are here, 



PRAYER. 7 

and upon the great body of citizens throughout all 
the United States, and upon the whole family of 
man. Grant that need of war shall cease and Gen- 
tile and Jew be gathered together in harmony, and 
the whole earth see Thy salvation. All of which we 
humbly ask in the adorable name of the Lord Jesus, 
our Saviour, to whom, with the Father and the Holy 
Spirit, we will give praise forever. Amen. 



ADDRESS 



MAJ. GEN. GEORGE G. MEADE. 



My Fellow Citizens^ Ladies and Gentlemen : 

Six years ago I stood upon this ground under cir- 
cumstances very different from those which now 
surround us. These beautiful hills and valleys, 
teeming with luxuriant crops, these happy faces 
around me, are widely different from the tumultuous 
roar of war and the terrible scenes enacted at that 
time. Four years ago I stood here, by invitation of 
some honorable gentlemen who have brought me 
here this time, and laid the corner-stone of the 
Monument which we are brought here to-day to 
dedicate ; and now, for the third time, I appear be- 
fore you at the request of the managers of the 
Monument Association to render my assistance, 
humble as it is, in paying respect to the memory of 
the brave men who fell here, by dedicating this 
Monument to them ; and at the request of these 
gentlemen I am about to make to you a few, a very 
few, remarks which are incident to this occasion 



ADDRESS. 



and suggested by it. When I look around and see, 
as I now see, so many brave men who were by my 
side in that memorable battle, among them his Ex- 
cellency the present Governor of Pennsylvania, Gen- 
eral Geary, and others who were with me at that 
time ; when 1 look back and think upon the noble 
spirits who then fought so well, and now sleep that 
sleep that knows no waking— gallant Reynolds, my 
bosom friend, as well as my right-hand officer; 
brave Vincent, and Zook, and Weed, and others, 
far more in number than I have time or words ta 
mention— my feelings are those of mingled sadpess 
and joy— sadness, my friends, to think that there 
ever was an occasion when such men should be ar- 
rayed in battle, as they were here ; that we should 
ever have been called upon, as we were upon this 
field, to defend the flag of our country and Govern- 
ment, which had been handed down to us from our 
forefathers. It is sad to think of the mourning and 
desolation which prostrated our whole land, North 
and South ; it is sad to contemplate the vast de- 
struction of life which we here wrought in obedience 
to our highest duty. I am filled with sadness to 
think of the host of mourning widows and orphans 
left throughout the land by that dreadful struggle. 
Such thoughts necessarily crowd upon us. At the 
same time I give thanks to the Almighty, who di- 
rected the event, and who selected me as an humble* 



% 



10 ADDRESS. 

instrument, with those then around me upon this 
field, to obtain that decisive victory which turned 
the tide of that great war, and settled forever the 
trust in this country of the great principles of per- 
sonal liberty and constitutional freedom. I feel 
grateful, too, that our fellow countrymen have been 
moved to such respect and honor as we are now 
paying to the memory of those men who, in the dis- 
charge of their duty, laid down their lives, proving, 
by the highest sacrifice man can render, their devo- 
tion to the cause they were defending. Gratitude 
to those present to-day, who, by their presence, con- 
tribute to render the high honor justly due to the 
fallen brave. There is one subject, my friends^ 
which I will mention now and on this spot, while my 
attention is being called to it, and on which I trust 
my feeble voice will have some influence. When 
I contemplate this field, I see here and there the 
marks of hastily dug trenches in which repose the 
dead against whom we fought. They are the work 
of my brothers in arms the day after the battle. 
Above them a bit of plank indicates simply that 
these remains of the fallen were hurriedly laid there 
by soldiers who met them in battle. Why should 
we not collect them in some suitable place ? I dd 
not ask that a monument be erected over them ; I 
do not ask that we should in any way endorse their 
cause or their conduct, or entertain other than feel- 



ADDRESS. 11 

ings of condemnation for their course ; but they are 
dead ! They have gone before their Maker to be 
judged. In all civilized countries it is the usage to 
bury the dead with decency and respect, and even 
to fallen enemies respectful burial is accorded in 
death. I earnestly hope that this suggestion may 
have some influence throughout our broad land, for 
this is only one of a hundred crowded battle-fields. 
Some persons may be designated by the Govern- 
ment to collect these neglected bones and bury 
them without commemorating monuments, simply 
indicating that below sleep misguided men who fell 
in battle for a cause over which we triumphed. I 
shall delay you no longer, for you are about to 
listen to one of the most eloquent men in this coun- 
try. My purpose was simply to comply with the 
kind invitation given me to speak meet words of 
praise for the dead heroes sleeping around, and to 
aid in the solemnities of this occasion. I thank you 
for your attention, and will now unveil the statue. 



ORATION 




GOVERNOR O. P. MORTON. 



When the Monument we are about to dedicate 
shall have crumbled into dust \ when the last ves- 
tige of this Cemetery shall have been obliterated by 
the tfe-hand of time; when there shall be nothing 
left of all that we see now but the hills, ihe valleys, 
the streams, and the distant mountains, the great 
battle which here took place, with its far-reaching 
consequences, will still live in history. Nations 
have their birth, youth, maturity, old age and death ; 
and ours, though we call it eternal, and our institu- 
tions immortal, will be no exception. But though 
nations must pass away, and all physical evidence 
of their existence be lost, yet may they live through 
all time in the brightness of their examples, in the 
glory of their deeds, and in the beneficence of their 
institutions. These are the inheritances they leave 
to the tar-coming centuries. 

When the pyramids of Egypt shall have sunk to 
the level of the Nile ; when the last remnant of 



ORATION. 13 

Grecian architecture, the last inscribed block of 
marble, shall have perished, men will still read of 
Moses and the Pass of Thermopylae. Monuments, 
after all, are but for the present, and may only 
instruct a few generations. But a glorious deed 
is a joy forever. 

Six years ago, day after to-morrow, the Union 
army was stretched along these heights from Gulp's 
Hill to Round Top— a human breakwater, against 
which the great tidal wave of rebellion was to dash 
in vain, and be thrown back in bloody spray and 
broken billows. The rebel chieftain, flushed by his 
success at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsvillc, for- 
getting that his triumphs had arisen from the fact 
that he had fought upon his own soil, behind natural 
fastnesses, having the advantage of choice of posi- 
tion and knowledge of the country, had insolently 
crossed the Potomac and invaded the loyal State of 
Pennsylvania. But from this invasion he was 
hurled back in bloody defeat, and in disordered 
flight crossed the Potomac, never again to set foot 
upon the soil of a loyal State. On yonder high 
ground across the plain was drawn out in battle 
array the rebel host. It was an open field ; the 
terms were nearly equal; and steady Northern 
valor, animated by the love of country, was to 
meet the boasted chivalry of the South fighting for 
slavery, sweep it from the field, strip it of its mere 



14 ORATION. 

tricious plumes, and give the Confederacy a fatal 
wound. 

It is the solid qualities of men and nations that 
win in the long run. The chivalry of false pride, 
the arrogance and vanity of a favored class, whose 
elevation is only seen by the depression of others, 
may, by spasmodic efforts for a time dazzle the eyes 
of the world, but cannot long maintain a successful 
contest with truth, justice, and the strength of free 
institutions. This was illustrated in the war of the 
rebellion, and m the battle of Gettysburg. This 
battle was not won by superior strategy or military 
genius, although managed with great courage and 
skill by General Meade and his subordinate com- 
manders, who left nothing undone that the occa- 
sion seemed to require, and who made the best use 
of the forces and opportunities at their command. 

It was a three days' battle, with varying fortunes 
the first and second days, in which the steadiness of 
Northern valor, animated by the convictions of a 
just cause, and the love and pride of a great and 
free country, finally wore out, bore down, and swept 
from the field the rebel masses, composed of men of 
equal physical courage, but whose moral powers 
were impaired by the absence of that strong convic- 
tion of the right which is a vast element of success. 

In yonder Cemetery, among the white tombstones. 
*'>ybere heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap'- 



ORATION. 15 

Over the buried generations of the hahiet, Was 
planted the artillery whose fearful peals would have 
aroused the slumbering dead were it not ordained 
that they should awake only at the sound of the 
last trutnp. Just behind the cre'?t of the hill, in the 
old cemetery, stood the tent of our glorious com- 
mander, the imperturbable Meade, calmly dictating 
his orders, while the storm of shot and shell flew 
over and around him. From yonder steeple, south- 
west of the village, the rebel chieftain surveyed the 
field, directed his host, and from time to time saw 
his advancing columns reel and wither, and finally 
retreat in hopeless flight and confusion. The 
flower of the rebel army had been chosen for the 
assault, and were massed to bring overwhelming 
numbers to bear on the point of attack. The rebel 
chieftain brought together more than one hundred 
and fifty pieces of artillery, with which, foi* three 
hours, he poured a terrific fire upon that part of the 
Union lines he intended to assault. 

It was a grand and solemn sight, when line after 
line, with steady step and in perfect order, emerged 
from the smoke and swept across the field toward 
the Union army. It was a moment of vast peril 
and import, of which both parties were powerfully 
conscious. If the rebel assault was successful, and 
we lost the battle, Washington and Philadelphia 
were within their grasp. The North invaded, de- 



16 RATI ON". 

feated, and demoralized would do — we know uoi 
what. Foreign nations would be encouraged to in- 
tervene, and the South, elated, 'would put forth 
MOkore desperate efforts than before. If the assault 
failed, and we gained the battle, the remnant of the 
rebel hosts must seek safety in flight, and a blow 
would be inflicted upon the Confederacy from which 
it could scarcely recover. These thoughts were 
present in the minds of all, and gave heroic courage 
to assault and to resist. But now the fire of our 
artillery was opened upon the advancing columns, 
and the shot and shell tore through their ranks, 
making great gaps, which were quickly filled up by 
those who came behind. But onward they came 
with desperate courage, until soon the fierce fire of 
musketry on both sides mingled with the horrid roar 
of artillery. Then, with terrific yells, they rushed 
upon our hues; but the impetus of their assault was 
suddenly checked. They were met with a courage- 
as desperate- as their own, and a fierce hand-to-hand 
conflict took place. The result was not long doubt- 
fiil. Their thinned and broken columns were flung 
back across the plain in headlong flight, leaving 
thousands of prisoners in our hands, the ground 
covered with dead and dying, and wet and muddy 
with blood. We had gained the day, though at 
fearful cost. The victory was great and mighty ii» 
its consequences. The prestige of the rebel army 



ORATION. 17 

was broken, never to be recovered, and the wound 
inflicted upon the Confederacy was never staunched 
until it had bled to death. 

The next day was the 4th of July, and the most 
memorable since that of 1776. On another field it 
witnessed the surrender of another large rebel army 
to the great chieftain of the war, now our illustrious 
President. The capture of Vicksburg opened the 
navigation of the Mississippi river, and severed from 
the Confederacy all that part of its territory lying 
west of that river. The loss to the Confederacy 
was irreparable. It was cut oft' from its chief source 
of supplies. The limits of the war were greatly cir- 
cumscribed. The mass of the rebel population 
was demoralized, and began to despair. From 
that day it became manifest that the rebellion could 
not succeed, unless the Southern people exhibited 
that endurance, patience under adversity, and high 
devotion that will sacrifice everything for the cause, 
which, as it turned out, they did not possess. By 
our victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg the rebel- 
lion lost its prestige in Europe, and all hopes of 
foreign intervention. 

At the foot of the Monument sleep the heroes of 
the battle. H^re lies the father, the husband, the 
brother and the only son. In far off" homes, among 
the hills of New England, on the shores of the lakes 
and in the valleys and plains of the West, the 



18 ORATION. 

widow, the orphan, and the aged parents are weepr- 
intr for these beloved dead. Many of the tombs are 
marked "unknown," but they will all be recognized 
on the morning of the Resurrection. The unknown 
dead left behind them kindred, friends, and breaking 
hearts. None die so humble but leave some one to 
mourn. "Perished at Gettysburg, in defense of 
their country," nine hundred and seventy-nine men 
of whose names, homes, or lineage there is no trace 
left on earth. Doubtless the Recording Angel has 
preserved the record, and when the books are 
opened on the last day their names will be found in 
letters of light on the immortal page of heroes who 
died that their country might live. 

Ill the fields before us are the graves of the rebel 
dead, now sunk to the level of the plain, "unmarked, 
unhonored, and unknown." They were our coun- 
trymen — of our blood, language, and history. They 
displayed a courage worthy of their country, and: of 
a better cause, and we may drop a tear to their 
memory. The news of this fatal field carried agony 
to thousands of Southern homes, and the wail of 
despair was heard in the everirlades and orange 
groves of the South. Would to God that these 
men had died for their country and not in fratricidal 
strife, for its destruction. Oh, who can describe the 
wickedness of rebellion, or paint the horrors of 
civil war ! 



ORATION. 19 

The rebellion was madness. It was the insanity 
of States, the delirium of millions, brought on by 
the pernicious influence of human slavery. The 
people of the South were drunk with the spoils of 
the labor of four millions of slaves. They were 
educated in the belief that chivalry and glory were 
the inheritance only of slaveholders ; that free insti- 
tutions and free labor begat cowardice and servility; 
that Northern men were sordid and mercenary, in- 
tent only upon gain, and would not fight for their 
Government or principles. And thus educated, and 
thus believing, they raised their hands to strike the 
Government of their fathers and to establish a new 
constitution, the chief corner-stone of which was to 
be human slavery. 

The lust of power, the unholy greed of slavery, 
the mad ambition of disappointed statesmen im- 
pelled the people of the South to a fearful crime, 
which drenched the land with fraternal blood, that 
has been punished as few crimes have ever been in 
this world, but out of which, we are assured, that 
God, in his providence will bring forth the choicest 
blessings to our country and to the human race ; 
even as of the dead. Liberty universal, soon to be 
guaranteed and preserved by sufirage universal ; the 
keeping of a nation's freedom to be entrusted to all 
the people^ and not to a part only ; the national re- 
proach washed out in rivers of blood, it is true ; but 



20 OKATION. 

the sins of the world were atoned by the blood of 
the Saviour, and the expiation of blood seems to be 
the grand economy of God founded in wisdom, to 
mortals inscrutable. Resurrection comes only from 
the grave. Death is the great progenitor of life. 
From the tomb of the rebellion a nation has been 
born again. The principles of liberty, so gloriously 
stated in the Declaration of Independence, had 
hitherto existed in theory. The Government had 
ever been a painful contradiction to the Declaration. 
While proclaiming to the world that liberty was the 
gift of God to every human beino^, four millions of 
the people were held in abject and brutalizing slave- 
ry, under the shadow of the national flag. In the 
presence of these slaves, professions of devotion to 
liberty were vain and hypocritical. The clanking of 
their chains ascended perpetually in contradiction to 
our professions, and the enemies of republicanism 
pointed contemptuously to our example. But all 
this is passed. Slavery lies buried in the tomb of 
the rebellion. The rebellion, the offspring of slavery, 
hath murdered its unnatural parent, and the perfect 
reign of liberty is at hand. 

With the ratification of the fifteenth article, pro- 
posed by Congress as an amendment to the Consti- 
tution of the United States, which we have every 
reason to \ielieve will soon be completed, impartial 
suffrage will be established throughout the land. 



ORATION. 21 

The equal rights of men will be recognized, and the 
millennium in liberty and government will be real- 
ized, to which our fathers looked forward with hope- 
fulness and joy. 

The principles of liberty once planted in the 
earth, and ripened into their rich fruits, will be borne 
through all the ages, blessing mankind to the latest 
generation, even as the seeds first sown by the hand 
of God in Paradise, were blown by the winds from 
continent to continent, until the world was clothed 
with verdure, fruits, and flowers. 

The prospect for liberty throughout the world 
was never so bright as it is to-day. In all civilized 
lands the grand armies of freedom are on their 
march. And they are allied armies. Victory to 
one will give prestige and confidence to the others. 
"With some, progress will be slow ; they will encoun- 
ter disaster and defeat, but will again rally, and go 
forward to final victory. In the great campaign of 
freedom we count, not by months, but by decades 
and generations, in which there will be many a Bull 
Run, many a Gettysburg, and a final Appomattox. 
The lines of march will be marked by many a cem- 
etery like this, by the wrecks of fallen institutions 
and dynasties, and by the ruins of hereditary privi- 
lege and caste. 

Let us briefly review the advance of liberty 
since 1776. 



22 ORATION. 

The principles of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence took early and deep root in France. The 
people of the empire had long suffered from the 
grossest misrule and oppression, and their minds 
were well prepared to comprehend and accept the 
new Gospel of Liberty. The French revolution 
first threw oft' the kingly government, then estab- 
lished complete democracy, but not knowing how to 
use liberty without abusing it, the people being gov- 
erned by their passions, and seeking to avenge upon 
parties and classes the wrongs they had suffered for 
generations, passed into anarchy, from which the 
transition back to monarchy and despotism was 
easy and rapid. But the return of monarchy was 
not characterized by the former oppression and mis- 
rule. The people had learned their rights and mon- 
archs had learned their power. Many of the old 
abuses which had been swept away by the revolu- 
tion were gone forever, and the new monarchy gov- 
erned with comparative justice, liberality, and hu- 
manity. 

The spirit of liberty had entered into the hearts 
of the people, and from time to time asserted itself 
in various ways, and in 1848 France returned again 
to a republic. This lasted but a short time, but the 
new monarch who overthrew it and established him- 
self upon its ruins was constrained to acknowledge 
the sovereignty of the people, and to profess to ac- 



ORATION. 23 

cept his crown by the vote of the majority. While 
we cannot say much for the freedom of that elec- 
tion, nor beheve that the result was the will of the 
people, yet it was of vast significance that the usurp- 
ing government was compelled to claim its title from 
a pretended popular election. In many respects 
the government of Napoleon III has been excellent. 
He has recognized the freedom of religious opinion. 
He has protected the people in their persons and 
property. He has encouraged trade and industry, 
stimulated manufactures, and extended their com- 
merce. He has given them a constitution which 
creates a legislative body, and guarantees many 
rights and privileges. But the people are not satis- 
fied. They are denied liberty of speech and of the 
press on political questions. They are not allowed 
to assemble for the discussion of measures in which 
they are vitally interested. Their legislative body 
is so constructed and manao^ed as to be a mere re<T- 
istry of the will of the Emperor. The recent elec- 
tions show the spirit of discontent and the existence 
of a powerful party who understand their rights and 
are determined to assert them, peaceably, if they 
can, and, as we have reason to believe, forcibly, if 
they must. The attentive observer, and student of 
French history, is led to the conclusion that nothing 
can preserve the throne and dynasty of Napoleon 
III, but the concession of the popular rights and 



24 ORATION. 

the establishment of freedom of speech and of the 
press, of the elections, and of the legislative body. 

The republican sentiment of France, though it 
has been unfortunate, and from time to time sup- 
pressed and apparently extinguished, is still vital, is 
growing in intelligence and power, and cannot be 
restrained, unless monarchy becomes so liberal and 
free as to confer the substantial benefit of a re- 
public. 

We cannot doubt that Nnpole6n appreciates the 
situation, and is preparing to make such conces- 
sions as will keep the popular discontent this side of 
revolution. 

The march of liberty in Germany is slow but 
steady. The great German family are struggling 
for unity and freedom. The institutions of Ger- 
many are becoming more liberal from year to year, 
and the condition of the people better and happier. 

The evil of large standing armies, annually with- 
drawing the young men from home and productive 
pursuits, is still endured, because Germany is sur- 
rounded by warlike and powerful enemies, clad in 
complete armor. 

But everywhere the tendency of the German 
mind is to the fullest liberty of thought, and to the 
recognition of the "equal rights" of men. 

Austria, so long oppressed, reels and responds to 
the impulse of liberty. An intelligent Emperor, 



ORATION. ^5 

who has not shut his eyes to what is going on in the 
world around him, perceives that he cannot stem 
the powerful current everywhere setting in toward 
free institutions, and that the security of his throne 
depends upon his conceding to the people rights 
and privileges which have been denied them since 
Austria was an empire, and giving back to Hun- 
gary the enjoyment of her ancient constitution. 

The abolition of the Concordat, the establish- 
ment of religious freedom, the equal taxation of all 
classes, are among the hopeful beginnings of Aus- 
trian reform. 

Italy, the ancient seat of the power and glory of 
the Roman Empire, land of history, philosophy? 
poetry, music, painting, sculpture, and romance, 
land of "starry climes and sunny skies," whose de- 
licious climate, lofty mountains, and beautiful val- 
leys and plains have ever excited the admiration of 
the traveller and poet, has made great progress in 
unity and freedom. 

Suffrage nearly universal, the habeas corpus, free- 
dom of religion and free schools are some of the 
principal features of Italian liberty. 

The spirit of liberty is abroad in Russia — mighty 
empire of the North, whose government has represen- 
ted the perfect idea of absolute despotism — an auto- 
crat power, unrestrained by constitution or law. An 
enlightened Czar, animated by love for his people, 



26 ORATION. 

and perceiving the individual happiness and material 
prosperity produced by free institutions, abolished 
slavery throughout his dominions, made the serfs 
freemen, and gave to them local free institutions, 
based upon the right of suffrage. It is true the im- 
perial power still extends over all — a dark, impene- 
trable canopy — but beneath its shadow there is indi- 
vidual liberty and local self-government. Thus far 
the prosperous result has established the wisdom of 
the Czar, and may we not believe that he has laid 
the foundation of a free government, to be develop- 
ed into a grand republic in the far future.'^ — and 
nearer, into a constitutional monarchy, with repre- 
sentative institutions? Liberty is lifce living sefed ; 
wherever planted it vivifies, expands, develops. 
Thus planted in Russia among the lowest people, 
and for local purposes, it will grow, develop, and 
finally conquer. Russia is among the progressive 
nations, and is our friend, and it was the American 
example which touched the heart and intellect of 
the Emperor. 

The spirit of liberty in its onward march has irh 
vaded Spain, and is stirring the great national heart. 
We have lately seen the great Spanish people firm- 
ly, and almost peacefully and unanimously, depose a 
licentious Queen, and declare against her dynasty. 
We have seen this people meet in primary assem- 
blies, and, by suffrage universal, elect a National 



ORATION. 27 

Cortes which has for many months, in calm dehate, 
considered and framed a new constitution, which, 
although not republican in its form, contains so 
much liberty, so much that is good and progressive 
in government, as to give the world high hope in 
the future of Spain. We have heard this national 
assembly declare that all sovereignty and power re- 
side in the people, thus denying the divine rights of 
kings, and asserting the fundamental idea of free 
in*stitntions. We have heard it pronounce the abo- 
lition of slavery. We have heard it pronounce the 
right of all men to worship God according to the 
dictates of their own consciences. Verily, these 
are great things, and new times, in old Spain. 

These are the germs of free institutions, and will, 
in the progress of years, grow into a republican 
government. 

Cuba, the queen of the Antilles, richest gem in 
the Spanish crown, the most fertile of islands, rich 
beyond description in the fruits and productions of 
tropical climes, and from which the Spanish treas- 
ury has so long been supplied, is making a bold, 
vigorous, and. as we trust, a successful effort to 
throw off the Spanish yoke and establish her inde- 
pendence. 

The native Cubans, inspired by the spirit of lib- 
erty, have proclaimed liberty to the slaves, freedom 
of religious opinion, and that governments exist 



28 ORATION, 

only by the consent of the governed. Cuba belongs 
to the American system, and the question of her 
fate is essentially American. We cannot be in- 
different to the struggle, and trust and believe that 
our Government stands ready to acknowledge her 
independence at the earliest moment that will be 
justified by the laws and usages of nations. 

Though we cannot rightfully intervene between 
Spain and her colony which she has so long oppres- 
sed and impoverished, our sympathies are with the 
Cubans, and we cannot regret any aid they may re- 
ceive which does not involve a breach of the inter- 
national duty of our Government. 

While the grand revolution in Spain is proceed- 
ing so peacefully and successfully ; while the Span- 
ish people are asserting their liberties and fortifying 
them by constitutional bulwarks, it is to be deeply 
regretted that they are denying to Cuba what they 
claim for themselves. 

The American Revolution was also an English 
revolution. The struggle for liberty here reacted 
upon England, has gone forward there continually, 
and is stronger to-day than ever. One reform has 
succeeded another. The basis of suffrage has been 
widened from time to time, and has always been 
followed by an extension of the rights, privileges, 
and prosperity of the people. The institutions of 
England have become more liberal, just, and benefi- 



ORATION. ^9 

cent as the right of siiftrage has been extended, and 
a larger number of men admitted to a voice in the 
government. Recently we have seen a new exten- 
sion of the franchise, followed almost immediately 
by a movement for the disestablishment of the Irish 
Church. The Irish Church establishment, though 
professedly in the interests of Protestantism, is not 
sustained or justified by the Protestant world, and 
the Protestant masses of England are demandingr 
its repeal. The disestablisliment bill has passed the 
House of Commons, but the lords threaten to reject 
it, or destroy it by modifications. It may sacrifice 
itself, but it cannot thereby preserve the Irish estab- 
lishment. The House of Lords is tolerated only 
upon the condition that it will ratify the action of 
the Commons, and will give its formal assent to all 
popular movements. It possesses no real political 
power, and will not be permitted to obstruct the 
wishes of the people. Should it be rash enough lo 
reject the disestablishment bill, it will at once inaug- 
urate a movement for its own reorganization, and 
the destruction of hereditary privileges. 

Such a movement cannot, perhaps, be long de- 
ferred anyhow. Another reform bill will soon be 
demanded, making sufi'rage universal, or nearly so, 
to be followed by the disestablishment of the En- 
ghsh Church, the abolition of the laws of primo- 
geniture, and the final destruction of the kingly 



30 ORATION. 

office. The mass of the English people are sub- 
stantially, though not professedly, republican in sen- 
timent. They accept the great doctrine of human 
rights upon which our Government is founded; and, 
while they yet retain the throne and the House of 
Lords, any attempt on the part of either to exercise 
positive power, or resist the popular will, would be 
instantly met by threats of resistance, and, if not 
abandoned, by revolution. The throne and the Up- 
pev House remain much like the feudal castles that 
yet distinguish the English landscape, emblems of 
departed power, curious to the view, full of historic 
interest, but no longer dangerous to the peace of 
the surrounding country. English reforms, hereto- 
fore slow, are becoming more rapid, and the En- 
glish people are marching with accelerated speed to 
a republican government. Universal suffrage and 
hereditary privilege cannot exist lonsf together. 
They are essentially hostile elements. The pro- 
gress of suffrage in England has been resisted at 
every step by the aristocratic classes ; but after 
many years of struggle it has arrived at that point 
where its further progress cannot be long delayed. 
Universal suffrage lies at the very summit of the hill 
of Difficulty, the ascent of which is rugged, slow, 
and toilsome, but when achieved, the people will be 
masters of the situation. America is avenging her- 
self upon England by gradually but surely overturn 



ORATION. 31 

ing her aristocratic and hierarchic institutions by the 
force of her teachings and example. The princi- 
ples of civil and religious liberty, crude and imper- 
fect when first brought from England to America, 
having been refined, illustrated, and extended, we 
return them to the mother country for her adoptioji, 
ladened with rich and glorious results. The spirit of 
American liberty is abroad in England. Her Brio-hts, 
Gladstones, Forsters, and her whole host of liberal 
statesmen are proclaiming the doctrines of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, and verifying the saying 
of a celebrated Englishman, that the American 
Revolution guaranteed the free institutions of Eng- 
land. We may not live to see England a republic, 
but I believe our children will. The event can be 
predicted with as much certainty as any other in hu- 
man affairs, and it is hastening on, perhaps fast 
enough when all things are considered. 

The difficulties in the way of putting down the 
rebel lion were great. The rebellious States con- 
tained a population of not less than ten millions, 
and although nearly four millions were slaves, yet 
most of them, until the very conclusion of the war^ 
constituted the laboring and producing classes, and 
furnished the supplies for the rebel armies in the 
field, and the non-combatants at home. The terri- 
tory of the rebellious States comprised an area of 
not less than eight hundred thousand square miles, 



82 ORATION. 

diversified by vast ranges of mountains, deep rivers, 
tangled wilderness, and far-stretching swamps, and 
everywhere presenting natural defences, behind 
which a small force could hold a large one at bay. 

The lines of communication were necessarily of 
great length, and maintained with difficulty. A large 
portion of our forces were constantly employed in 
this way, and in garrisoning posts, so that it was sel- 
dom we were able to meet the enemy with superior 
force upon the field. 

These immense difficulties went far to counter- 
balance our superiority in population and resources, 
and were so great as to lead military observers 
throughout Europe to prophesy, almost with one ac- 
cord, that we could not conquer the South. It was 
said there was no instance in history where so large 
a population, scattered over even one-third of a ter- 
ritory so great as that embraced by the rebellion, 
had been subdued. It was said we could not con- 
quer space; that conquest would be a geographical 
impossibility ; that three millions of men could not 
garrison the South, and that when we had captured 
their towns and overrun the inhabited parts of their 
country, they would still maintain the war in morass, 
mountain, and forest almost impenetrable to regular 
armies, until the North, exhausted in blood and 
treasure, and broken in hope, would give up the 
contest. 



ORATION. 33 

"Such was the belief of leading military minds in 
Europe, and of the pohticians of the South when 
the war began. These opinions seemed well- 
founded in reason and in history, and the suppres- 
sion of the rebellion, all things considered, may be 
justly regarded as the greatest of all military 
achievements. 

The fact that the rebels fought upon their own 
soil, in a country with which they were familiar, pro- 
tected from the approach of loyal armies by the 
natural advantages before described, was a full com- 
pensation for the difference between the population 
and resources of the two sections, and the final 
triumph of our arms, and the suppression of the re- 
bellion must be sought for in other causes. 

What these causes were may be briefly stated : 

First^ In the strength, coura^-e, and endurance 
imparted to armies by the conviction that they are 
fighting in a just and patriotic cause. The humblest 
privates in our army believed that they were fighting 
to preserve the best government in the world ; to 
preserve liberty and extinguish slavery ; in behalf of 
Civilization and Christianity, against Barbarism and 
Inliumanity. These convictions gave inspiration, 
courage, and hope to the army, and animated the 
gt*eat mass of the people of the North, who sus- ' 
Jtained the Government throughout the contest, com- ' 



34 ORATION. 

stituting an immense moral power, in opposition to 
which the South had but little to offer. 

The people of the South had bitter prejudices, 
which had been carefully fostered by the designing 
politicians. Many of them believed in the abstract 
doctrine, under the Constitution, of State sovereign- 
ty and the right of secession. Some of them be- 
lieved in the rightfulness of slavery, but more in its 
profitableness, its convenience, and its contributions 
to luxury and pride. But all of these constituted 
no moral power to inspire the patriot, nerve the sol- 
dier, give consolation in the dying hour, or deter- 
m,ine people never to surrender, and to struggle on 
to the last. When, therefore, the principal armies 
of the rebellion were overcome and had surrender- 
ed, the war was at an end. Hostility was not main- 
tained in the forest and mountain, as had been pre- 
dicted. The convictions, hopes, and purposes of 
the masses had been extinguished before their ar- 
mies were, and although they were full of bitterness 
and humiliation, yet there was nothing left for 
which they might sacrifice their homes and the 
future quiet and prosperity of their lives. Their 
cause failed in advance of their armies and re- 
sources. 

The rebel historian of the "Lost Cause," in des- 
canting upon the subject, speaks as follows : 

"The whole fabric of Confederate defence turn- 



ORATION. 35 

bled down at a stroke of arms that did not amount 
to a battle. There was no last great convulsion, such 
as usually marks the final struggle of a people's 
devotion, or the expiring hours of their desperation. 
The word surrender travelled from Virginia to 
Texas. A four years' contest terminated with the 
smallest incident of bloodshed ; it lapsed, it passed 
by a rapid and easy transition, into a profound and 
abject submission. There must be some explana- 
tion of this flat conclusion of the war. It is easily 
found. Such a condition could only take place in 
the thorough demoralization of the armies and peo- 
ple of the Confederacy ; there must have been a 
general decay of public spirit — a general rottenness 
of pubhc affairs — when a great war was thus termi- 
nated, and a contest was abandoned so short of 
positive defeat, and so far from the historical neces- 
sity of subjugation." 

And again he says : 

"We fear that the lessons and examples of his- 
tory are to the contrary, and we search in vain for 
one instance where a country of such extent as the 
Confederacy has been so thoroughly subdued by any 
amount of military force, unless where popular de- 
moralization has supervened." 

History records that many nations, far more ex- 
hausted than they, have struggled on to final victory. 
Our Revolutionary fathers, at the end of four years, 



36 ORATiorf. 

defeated, exhausted and overrun, did not despair, 
but animated by the justice of their cause, and the 
belief that it would triumph because it was just, 
struggled on, and at the end of seven years were 
blessed with peace and the rich reward which shall 
be the inheritance of the earth. "Thrice is he 
armed who hath his quarrel just," and weak 
and defenceless are they who contend for in- 
justice and slavery, though girt about by the moun- 
tain, the swift river, and the deep wilderness. 

Secondly^ The armies of the North were strong 
in that physical endurance which is communicated 
by habitual labor, and by that self-reliance and con- 
fidence which free labor only can inspire. They 
were strong in the intelligence of the masses who 
filled the ranks. These men understood well the 
nature of the struggle in which they were engaged. 
They knew the vast consequences to themselves, 
their posterity, and to the world, depending upon 
the result. Their education enabled them not only 
to comprehend the "cause," but military operations, 
the condition of the Government and the country, 
and the decline of the spirit and strength of the 
enemy. In short, our armies were a vast intelli- 
gence, subject to military control, possessing clear 
ideas of duty, condition, consequences, and spirit 
and resolution commensurate to these. 

We have met here to-day to dedicate this Monu- 



ORATIOIV. 37 

merit to the memory of the patriotic and gallant 
men who fell upon this field, and to testify our love 
to the great cause in which they perished. Their 
achievements will be recorded upon the pages of 
history, much more enduring thtin stone, but we de- 
sire to present this visible evidence of our remem- 
brance and gratitude. We are surrounded to-day 
by many of the surviving heroes of the battle ; by 
many of the relatives and friends of those beloved 
dead, and by many thousands of our people who re- 
joice in the preservation, peace and prosperity of 
our country. That we have a united country, that 
we have national Government, that we have peace 
in all our borders, that there is liberty and protec- 
tion for all, that we have bright and glorious pros- 
pects of individual happiness and national growth 
and power, we owe to the brave men who fell upon 
this and other fields. The glorious circumstance 
and bright auspices over and around us to-day were 
purchased by their blood. We are in the full enjoy- 
ment of the prize for which it was shed. Let us in- 
crease the gratitude of our hearts by considering 
for a moment what would be our condition if the 
rebellion had triumphed. We would have no sol- 
emn but sweet occasions like this. We would have 
no common country, no common name, no national 
flag, no glorious prospects for the future. 

Had the bond of union been broken the various 



38 ORATION. 

parts would have crumbled to pieces. We should 
have a slaveholding confederacy in the South ; a re- 
public on the Pacific; another in the Northwest, and 
another in the East. With the example of one suc- 
cessful secession, dismemberment of the balance 
would have speedily followed, and our country, once 
the hope of the world, the pride of our hearts, bro- 
ken into hostile fragments, would have been blotted 
from the map, and became a byword among the na- 
tions. Let us thank Almighty God to-day, that we 
have escaped this horrible fate. We feel as one 
who awakes from a terrible dream, and rejoices that 
he is alive. We feel as did the children of Israel, 
when, standing upon the shores of the Red Sea, 
they looked back upon the destruction from which 
they had been delivered. 

Mr. Lincoln, standing in this place a few months 
after the battle, and while yet the conflict was rack- 
ing, dedicated himself to his country and to the 
cause of liberty and union. The demon of rebel- 
lion afterwards exacted his life, but the inspiration 
of the words he spoke is resting upon us to-day. 
The great prophecy he uttered when he said, '•^he 
nation shall, under God, have a new birth of free- 
dom," and that ''the government of the people, by 
the people, and for the people, shall not perish from 
the earth," is being fulfilled. He sealed his devo- 
tion with his blood, and sacred be his memory. The 



ORATION. 39 

eloquent Everett, who spoke here on the same occa- 
sion, and who has since passed from earth, said : 
"God bless the Union; it is dearer to us from the 
blood of brave men which has been shed in its de- 
fence." As I stood by them and listened to their 
inspired words, my faith was renewed in the triumph 
of liberty ; but imagination failed to stretch forward 
to this auspicious day. The march of events has 
been faster than our thoughts, and the fruits of 
victory have already exceeded our most sanguine 
expectations. 

While we pay this tribute of love and gratitude to 
the dead, let us not forget the surviving heroes of 
the battle. They, too, offered their lives, but the 
sacrifice was not required. The admiration, love, 
and gratitude of the nation will attend them as they 
pass down the declivity of time to honored graves. 
In the evening of their lives they will tell the story 
of Gettysburg- to wondering youth, who will listen 
as we did when our grandfathers told of Bunker 
Hill, Saratoga, and Yorktown. Many of them are 
here to-day, to review the scene of their struggle 
and triumph. How powerful the contrast between 
now and then ! The dark cloud which overspread 
the horizon of the nation is gone, and all is bright- 
ness. The sulphurous cloud of battle, too, is gone, 
and there is nothing to obscure our vision of the 
field. The dead have returned to dust. The fields 



40 ORATION. 

once cumbered with bodies and slippery with blood, 
are clothed with verdure and harvest, and to-day all 
is peace, beauty and repose. 

We seek not to commemorate a triumph over our 
misguided countrymen. It is the cause we celebrate. 
Our triumph is theirs, and their children's children, 
until the latest generation. The great disturbing 
element has been removed. Vicious political here- 
sies have been extirpated. The trial by wager of 
battle has been decided in favor of liberty and union, 
and all will submit. The people of the North and 
South have met each other face to face on many a 
field, have tried each others courage, have found 
they are much ahke in many things, have increased 
their mutual respect, and are now preparing to live 
together more fraternally than before. 

The Southern States are rapidly recovering from 
the prostration of the war, and with their deliverance 
from the incubus of slavery, with free labor, with 
free schools, with emigration from the North and 
from Europe, will soon attain a prosperity and power 
of which they scarcely dreamed in former days. 
The advancing prosperity is solid, just, and endur- 
ino-. We rejoice in it. The bonds of union are 
made indissoluble by the community of political prin- 
ciples, by the complete identity of domestic and com- 
mercial interests, and by a uniform system of labor, 
of education, and of habits of thought and action. 
HENCEFORTH DISUNION IS IMPOSSIBLE. 



DEDICATION ODE, 

FOR THE NATIONAL CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURG, 

July 1,1869. B.Uj-H. ^aJy^ . 

I. 

After the eyes that looked, the lips that spake 

Here, from the shadows of impending death, 

Those words of solemn breath, 

What voice may fitly break 

The silence, doubly hallowed, left by him ? 

We can but bow the head, with eyes grown dim. 

And, as a nation's litany, repeat 

The phrase his martyrdom hath made complete, 

Noble as then, but now more sadly sweet ; 

"Let us, the Living, rather dedicate 

Ourselves to the unfinished work, which they 

Thus far advanced so nobly on its way. 

And save the periled State ! 

Let us, upon this field where they, the brave, 

Their last full measure of devotion gave, . 

Highly resolve they have not died in vain !— 

That under God, the nation's later birth 

Of Freedom, and the People's gain 

Of their own Sovereignty, shall never wane 

And perish from the circle of the earth !" 

From such a perfect text shall Song aspijjp 

To light its faded fire, 

And into wandering music turn 

6 



4^ POEM. 

Its virtue, simple, sorrowful and stem ? 

His voice all elegies anticipated : 

For, whatsoe'er the strain, 

We hear that one refrain : 

"We consecrate ourselves to them, the Consecrated !" 

II. 
After the thunder-storm our heaven is blue : 
Far-off, along the borders of the sky^ 
In silver folds the clouds of battle lie. 
With soft, consoling sunlight shining through ; 
And round the sweeping circles of your hills 
The crashing cannon thrills 
Have faded from the memory of the air ; 
And Summer pours from unexhausted fountains 
Her bliss on yonder mountains : 
The camps are tenantless, the breastworks bare : 
Earth keeps no stain where hero-blood was poured : 
The hornets, humming on their wings of lead, 
Have ceased to sting, their angry swarms are dead, 
And, harmless in its scabbard, rusts the sword ! 

III. 
Oh, not till now — oh, now we dare, at last, 
To give our heroes fitting consecration ! 
Not till the soreness of the strife is past, 
And Peace hath comforted the weary Nation ! 
So long her sad, indignant spirit held 
One keen regret, one throb of pain unquelled, 
So long the land about her feet was waste, 
The ashes of the burning lay upon her, 
We stood beside their graves with brows abased, 
Waiting the purer mood to do them honor ! 
They, through the flames of this dread holocaust, 
The patriot's wrath, the soldier's ardor, lost : 
They sit above us and above our passion, 
Disparaged even by our human tears, — 
Beholding truth our race, perchance, may fashion 



POEM. 43 



In the slow judgment of the creeping years. 

We saw the still reproof upon their faces ; 

We heard them whisper from the shining spaces : 

"To-day ye grieve : come not to us with sorrow ! 

Wait for the glad, the reconciled To-morrow ! 

Your grief but clouds the ether where we dwell ; 

Your anger keeps your souls and ours apart : 

But come with peace and pardon, all is well ! 

And come with love, we touch you, heart to heart ! 
rv. 

Immortal Brothers, we have heard ! 

Our lips declare the reconciling word : 

For Battle taught, that set us face to face, 

The stubborn temper of the race, 

And both, from fields no longer alien, come, 

To grander action equally invited, — 

Marshalled by Learning's trump, by Labor's drum, 

In strife that purifies and makes united ! 

We force to build, the powers that would destroy : 

The muscles, hardened by the sabre's grasp 

Now give our hands a firmer clasp : 

We bring not grief to you, but solemn joy ! 

And, fueling you so neai*, 

Look forward with your eyes, divinely clear, 

To some sublimely-perfect, sacred yeai*, 

When sons of fathers whom ye overcame 

Forget in mutual pride the partial blame, 

And join with us, to set the final crown 

Upon your dear renown, — 

The People's Union in heart and name ! 

v. 
And yet, ye Dead ! — and yet 
Our clouded natures cling to one regret : 
We are not all resigned 
To yield, with even mind, 

Our scarcely risen stars, that here untimely set. 
We needs must think of history that waits 
For lines that live but in their proud beginning — 



44 POEM. 

Arrested promises and cheated fates — 

Youth's boundless venture and its single winning-. 

We see the ghosts of deeds they might have done, 

The phantom homes that beaconed their endeavor ; 

The seeds of countless lives in them begun, 

That might have multiplied for us forever ! 

We grudge the better strain of men 

That proved itself, and was extinguished then — 

The field, with strength and hope so thickly sown, 

Wherefrom no other harvest shall be mown ; 

For all the land, within its clasping seas. 

Is poorer now in bravery and beauty, 

Such wealth of manly loves and energies 

Was given to teach us all the free man's sacred duty? 

VI. 

Again 'tis they, the Dead, 
By whom our hearts are comforted. 
^ Deep as the land-blown murmurs of the waves 
The answer cometh from a thousand graves ; 
"Not so ! we are not orphaned of our fate I 
Though life was warmest and though love were sweetest. 
We still have portion in their best estate ; 
Our fortvme is the fairest and completest I 
Our homes are everywhere ; our loves are set 
In hearts of man and woman, sweet and vernal ; 
Courage and Truth, the children we beget, 
Unmixrd of baser earth, shall be eternal. 
A finer spirit in the blood shall give 
The token of the lines wherein we live, — 
Unselfish force, unconscious nobleness 
That in the shocks of fortune stands xmshaken, — 
The hopes that in their very being bless, 
The aspirations that to deeds awaken ! 
0, if superior virtue ye allow 
To us, be sure it still is vital in you, — 
That trust like ours shall ever lift the brow, 
And strength like ours shall ever steel the sinew ! 



POEM. 45 

We are blossoms which the storm has cast 

From the Spring promise of our Freedom's tree, 

Prmiing its overgrowths, that so, at last, 

Its later fruit more bountiful shall be ! — 

Content, if, when the balm of Time assuages 

The branch's hurt, some fragrance of our lives 

In all the land survives, 

And makes their memory sweet through still expanding ages I" 

VII. 

Thus grandly, they we mourn, themselves console us ; 

And, as their spirits conquer and control us, 

We hear, from some high realm that lies beyond, 

The hero-voices of the Past respond. 

From every State that reached a broader right 

Through fiery gates of battle ; from the shock 

Of old invasions on the People's rock ; 

From tribes that stood, in Kings' and Priests' despite ; 

From graves forgotten in the Syrian sand, 

Or nameless barrows of the Northren strand, 

Or gorges of the Alps and Pyrenees, 

Or the dark bowels of devouring seas, — 

Wherever Man for Man's sake died — wherever 

Death stayed the march of upward-climbing feet, 

Leaving their Present incomplete. 

But through far Futures crowning their endeavor — 

Their ghostly voices to our ears are sent, 

As when the high note of the trumpet wrings 

^olian answers from the strings 

Of many a mute, unfingered instrument. 

Platsean cymbals thrill for us to-day ; 

The horns of Sempach in our echoes play, 

And nearer yet, and sharper, and more stern. 

The slogan rings that startled Bannockburn ; 

Till from the field, made green with kindred deed, 

The shields are slashed in exultation 

Above the dauntless Nation, 

That for a Continent has fought its Runnymede ! 



46 POEM. 

VIII. 

Yes, for a Continent ! The heart that beats 
With such rich blood of sacrifice 
Shall, from the Tropics, drowsed with languid heats,' 
To the blue ramparts of the Northern ice, 
Make felt its pulses, all this young world over ! — 
Shall thrill, and shake, and sway- 
Each land that bourgeons in the Western day. 
Whatever flag may float, whatever shield may cover ! 
With fuller manhood every wind is rife, 
In every soil are sown the seeds of valor. 
Since out of death came forth such boundless life, 
Such ruddy beauty out of anguished pallor ! 
And that war wasted arm 
Put forth to lift a sister-land from harm, 
Ere the last blood upon the blade was dried, 
Shall still be stretched, to shelter and to guide, 
Beyond her borders, answering the need 
With counsel and with deed, 
Along the Eastern and the Western wave, 
Still strong to smite, still beautiful to save I 

IX. 

Thus, in her seat secure. 

Where now no distant menaces can reach her, 

At last in undivided freedom pure. 

She sits, the unwilling world's unconscious teacher ; 

And, day by day, beneath serener skies, 

The unshaken pillars of her palace rise — 

The Doric shafts, that lightly upward press, 

And hide in grace their giant massiveness. 

What though the sword has hewn each corner-stone. 

And precious blood cements the deep foundation ? 

Never by other force have empires grown ; 

From other basis never rose a nation ! 

For strength is born of struggle, faith of doubt. 

Of discord law, and freedom of oppression. 

We hail from Pisgah. with exulting shout, 



POEM. 47 

The Promised Land below us, bright with sun, 

And deem its pastures won, 

Ere toil and blood have earned us their possession ! 

Each aspiration of our human earth 

Becomes an act through keenest pangs of birth ; 

Each force, to bless, must cease to be a dream, 

And conquer life through agony svipreme : 

Each inborn right must outwardly be tested 

By stern material weapons, ere it stand 

In the enduring fabric of the land, 

Secured for those who yielded it, and those who wrested ! 

X. 

This they have done for us who slumber here, 

Awake, alive, though now so dumbly sleeping ; 

Spreading the board, but tasting not its cheer, 

Sowing, but never reaping ; — 

Building, but never sitting in the shade 

Of the strong mansion they have made ; — 

Speaking their words of life with mighty fbngue, 

But hearing not the echo, million-voiced, 

Of brothers who rejoiced. 

From all our river-vales and mountains flung ! 

So take them, Heroes of the songful Past ! 

Open your ranks, let every shining troop 

Its phantom banners droop, 

To hail Earth's noblest martyrs, and her last ! 

Take them, Fatherland ! # 

Who, dying, conquered in thy name ; 

And, with a grateful hand, 

Inscribe their deed who took away thy blame, — 

Give, for their grandest all, thine insufficient fame ! 

Take them, God ! our Brave, 

The glad fulfillers of Thy dread decree ; 

Who grasped the sword for Peace, and smote to save. 

And, dying here for Freedom, died for -Thee 1 

Bayard Taylor^ 



BENEDICTION 

BY 

EEV. S. S. SCHMUCKER, D. D. 



Exalted and adorable God. Once more we would lift 
up our souls in adoration to Thee, thou God of nations, 
who doest Thy will amongst the armies of heaven, and to 
whom the heaven, and the earth, and the whole universe 
of worlds owe their existence. Thy Almighty truth, 
God, is irresistible, and Thy all-seeing eye is beholding 
the exercises of this solemn occasion. We have assem- 
bled here to-day to join in the exercises commemorative 
of the day, when, with outstretched arm Thou didst de- 
liver Thy people, and the patriotism of those who have 
laid do wn their lives for the life of the nation, and 
whose bodies now sleep in these graves. There may they 
sleep in peace till the last trumpet shall sound and call the 
dead to judgment. We have come to pray for our coun- 
try, and to pray to heaven for our misguided foes. O 
God, we pray Thee to banish from our land all elements 
of discord ; may we be united by the cord of common 
brotherhood, and may our land continue to be an asylum 
for the oppressed and persecuted of all nations, until the 
day when Jesus Christ shall reign from the rising to the 
setting of the sun ; and to Thy great name we will ascribe 
everlasting praise. Amen. 



4vf LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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